Ukrainian soldiers atop a tank moving toward the front line near Bakhmut last week.Credit…Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces are engaged in “mopping up” operations to clear the remaining Ukrainian soldiers from the ruins of Bakhmut, a senior Ukrainian official said on Monday, as Kyiv’s military commanders seek to shift the focus from their apparent loss of the city to the battle for its outskirts.
The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, conceded over the weekend that only a small contingent of Ukrainian soldiers is now inside Bakhmut, a tacit acknowledgment that Russia had prevailed in its nearly yearlong campaign to seize the city. General Syrsky said those few troops would continue defending their ground in order to provide “opportunities to enter the city in case of a change of circumstances.”
The comments signaled a shift in how Ukraine is portraying the war’s deadliest campaign as Russia claims its first…
This article was written by The New York Times and originally published on www.nytimes.com